Tough Questions

John 7:25-31

Many of the Jewish people were trying to piece together the puzzle of Jesus. “Maybe it’s possible he’s the Messiah. Maybe he’s the one God promised long ago through Moses and the Prophets. Could he really be the one?” The question of Jesus’s identity permeates this chapter. Everyone seems to have an opinion. Some say he’s a good man; others say he’s a deceiver (v. 12). Some think he’s demon possessed (v. 20), while others believe he’s the Messiah (v. 40). Is Jesus the Messiah? That’s the question the crowd is asking, and it’s the question of the Gospel of John. We find a clear answer when we consider chapters 6 and 7 together.

chapter 6 started with Jesus miraculously feeding the Jews with bread while they are out in the wilderness. Next, Jesus miraculously crosses the sea. On the other side of the sea, he talked about Moses, manna, and the new covenant. The people didn’t like what he said, so they began to grumble and complain; many turned and walked away in unbelief. It sounds familiar if you’ve read the Pentateuch. In Exodus God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness. While they were there, he fed them with bread from heaven, called manna. To get them to the wilderness, he miraculously parted the sea so they could get across. While in the wilderness, he delivered to Moses the old covenant. The people began to grumble and complain, and by the time they made it to the promised land, the nation turned and walked away in unbelief, unwilling to follow God and his chosen leader into the land of promise.

John 7 continues this theme. The setting is the Festival of Shelters, a commemoration instituted in Leviticus 23. The purpose of the festival was to remind the Israelites and their descendants that God brought them out of Egypt (Lev 23:42-43). God provided for his people when they were on their way to the promised land. Here’s the ironic part. That time of Israel’s wandering—when God was meeting their needs in the wilderness—was characterized by grumbling, complaining, and unbelief. Centuries later we find the Jews celebrating God’s salvation from Egypt and the way he provided for them. Jesus comes into town during the celebration, and he reveals himself as the greater Moses, as the ultimate provision of God sent to bring salvation to God’s people. This time will they believe in him? Some did (7:30-31). They believed because Jesus perfectly fit the criteria for the Messiah. They looked at the promises of God, and they looked at the life of Jesus, and the two were a perfect match.

John 7:32-39

The Pharisees don’t like Jesus. In fact, they want to kill Jesus because he’s honest with them. He’s not afraid to point out their hypocrisy and self-righteousness. His unwillingness to coddle them has enraged them to the point where they’re actively seeking to murder him. Everyone in Jerusalem is talking about Jesus. People are murmuring about Jesus. You could translate the word murmuring as “whispering.” They’re afraid to speak publicly about Jesus because they don’t want to suffer the wrath of the Pharisees. Verse 32 said the crowd was whispering “these things.” What things? They were wondering if Jesus could possibly be the Messiah. Everything he said and did pointed to him being the one sent by God to defeat sin and rescue people from death. Imagine crowds of people walking through Jerusalem, saying, “Could Jesus really be the Messiah?” And every time a Pharisee walks by, they look down and become quiet.

Before Jesus invites the crowds to come to him, he warns them they must make a decision (vv. 33-34). He will be leaving soon to return to his Father. Things are going to change. They can’t wait indefinitely to decide whether to come to him. The crowds respond with confusion. They don’t understand what Jesus means about leaving. They wonder if he is leaving to live with the Greeks due to the dispersion (vv. 35-36). At first the inclusion of their speculation seems pointless, but their question about the dispersion and the Greeks is included because it’s foreshadowing. After Jesus dies, is buried, and rises again, he teaches his disciples for forty days and then ascends to heaven. Once he leaves, his disciples begin to tell others about him. They come under severe persecution and are dispersed from Jerusalem. Many of them travel and begin to tell non-Jewish people (the Greeks) about Jesus. Eventually the message of Jesus will make its way to all people. It will spread because the invitation Jesus gives is for everyone. No country, no ethnicity, no gender, no class, no language, no people are excluded from the invitation Jesus gives.

On the last day of the Festival of Shelters, Jesus extends an amazing invitation to the people (vv. 37-39). To understand the invitation, we need to understand the Scripture Jesus quotes. His statement, “Streams of living water [will] flow from deep within him,” points us back to Isaiah. The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah talk primarily about judgment: on Judah, on Jerusalem, and on the nations surrounding Israel. There are even chapters prophesying judgment on the whole world. The judgment is due to the wickedness of each of these nations. Though there are many glimpses of hope in the first thirty-nine chapters, the book really takes a turn in chapter 40. Instead of judgment, we find promises of salvation that dominate the remaining twenty-six chapters, which center on someone called “the Servant.”

If you read Isaiah’s book, by the time you reach chapter 55 (the chapter Jesus references in John 7), you know God will send his Servant—who is God—to save his people from judgment. Now compare these two invitations:

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. (John 7:37)

Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water. (Isa 55:1)

Jesus, the Messiah, the Servant, the Son of God, invites thirsty people to come to him and drink. When we hear the invitation to come and drink, we don’t get how important it is. We’re spoiled by our unlimited selection of beverages. When Jesus says he’ll give the thirsty water, we must understand the gravity of the situation. Remember he’s saying this on the final day of the Festival of Shelters. The Festival of Shelters commemorates a time in Israel’s history when they were stuck in the desert. Those who are thirsty in a desert are dying. This is why so many of the miracles during the time of Israel’s wandering in the desert had to do with water: Moses striking a rock and water pouring out, Moses commanded to speak to a rock so water would come out, and God providing water in the midst of the desert. In a desert water means life. In a desert, if you’re thirsty, you’re dying.

Jesus is inviting the dying to come to him for life. Are you dying? Yes, we’re all dying. What can we do about it? Jesus invites the dying to come to him. The one in the desert with his strength fading, struggling to go on, hears the promise of water, and he knows that’s his only hope. Your only hope is Jesus. Only Jesus can give you water. Only Jesus can give you life. Look at what Jesus promises: not only will he give you a drink, but he will put a river of water in your heart (John 7:38). To those in the desert, a cup of water is great, but a river of water changes their lives: it guarantees life; it is a source of unending life. This is what Jesus promises. If you come to him, he will give you unending life by putting his Spirit inside you. He will actually put some of him inside you.

He says in effect, “If you’re dying (and you all are), come to me. Not only will I give you life, but I will put my Spirit inside of you so that you will always have life. My Spirit inside of you will become a river of unending life.” The Spirit will be a river of water inside you, and no desert or drought can ever cause it to run dry. Water to the thirsty, life to the dying—Jesus is all of this and more.

Now, I know how some people think: But this sounds too good to be true. I’d love some water. I need life, but I don’t have anything to offer Jesus. Idon’t deserve it, and I’ve got no way to get it. God says,

“Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water; and you without silver, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without silver and without cost!” (Isa 55:1)

Jesus doesn’t want your money. He wants you. He invites you to come empty-handed to him, and when you do, you’ll never be empty-handed again. We have nothing, but for some reason God still wants us, so he invites us to come. Come empty-handed. Come with no money. Come with nothing. Come dying. But you must come. Remember the warning Jesus gave, that some would seek him and not find him (John 7:34). That sounds a lot like Isaiah 55:6: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call to him while he is near.” If you don’t find life before death, you can’t find life after death. If you don’t drink the water before you die, you won’t have the chance afterward. How do you come to Jesus?

Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will freely forgive. (Isa 55:7)

John 7:40-52

You won’t come to Jesus if you don’t believe him. If you believe he’s God, if you believe he’s the only source of life, if you believe he will give you his Spirit, if you believe he loves you, if you believe he’s gracious and merciful, if you believe he’s the fulfillment of all God’s promises, then you’ll come to him. If not, then you won’t. If you’re wrestling with whether to believe, you’re not alone (vv. 40-44). But if you have already decided you don’t want to believe him, then you’ll find an excuse not to. We see it here. They thought his hometown ruled him out as the Messiah, but they were wrong about where he was born. But if you want to find the truth, if you want to know if this is real, then you need to examine what the Bible says about Jesus. Is he the Son of God?

Those who were unbiased saw something unique about Jesus, and they couldn’t help but be affected (vv. 45-46). I love their response: “You ask why didn’t we arrest him? Have you heard him speak? There’s no one like him” (my paraphrase). But the Pharisees had decided, and no amount of evidence would change it. They had chosen not to believe, so they came up with lame excuses to make their unbelief seem reasonable (vv. 47-52). They didn’t believe Jesus because they didn’t want to believe Jesus. Their unbelief was rooted in an unwillingness to discern the truth.

For decades one of the first places immigrants to America landed was Ellis Island. They came hoping for a better life, longing for a chance to find happiness. Near Ellis Island was a statue, and the statue was an invitation. A poem by Emma Lazarus captured the invitation:

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

What a beautiful invitation. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.” Jesus extends a better invitation. “Come, weary and broken. Come, thirsty and dying. Come to me and find life.”